This known ski binding part according to Austrian Pat. No. 321,170 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,730) has proven to be successful in practice. However, it is disadvantageous only in the circumstance that the boot sole is supported during the entire release operation on the associated sole holder and thus has to overcome a resistance up to the final release.
Ski binding parts are already known in which after reaching a predetermined limit, which is generally identified as the elasticity limit, the movable ski binding part is swung or moved in its totality from the release area of the boot sole. This construction has, however, the disadvantage that the entire ski binding part must be moved so that the boot sole has to overcome an increased resistance at the limit of the elasticity.
The invention will aid and improve a ski binding part of the abovementioned type so that after exceeding the elasticity limit, the release force which is applied by the boot sole onto the loaded sole holder is reduced substantially, if necessary, is totally cancelled so that the entire movable ski binding part does not need to be operated.
The objects are inventively attained by providing within the range of movement of the slide member or the sole holders a tripping point, an exceeding of which effects a decrease in the force which is produced by the spring.
Through the inventive construction, after exceeding the elasticity limit, the force which is applied by the boot sole onto the operated sole holder is cancelled either totally, namely by preventing the transfer of force provided between the sole holder and the spring or by at least a substantial reduction in the spring force because the direction of the force vector which comes from the sole holder is changed in relationship to the force vector which is produced by the spring.
A preferable embodiment of the invention for interrupting the transfer of force consists in designing the slide member in two parts, wherein the part which is associated with the spring has at least one recess into which releasably projects the end of the second part which is designed as a carrier, which end is remote from the sole holders, and by arranging below the divided slide member a stop having a guide surface thereon which effects a sliding of the carrier out of the recess.
The two-part construction of the slide member can be carried out without any additional disadvantages; the interruption of the transfer of force by using a guide surface is positive and simple.
To effect a resetting or return of the carrier, same can be loaded inventively by a return spring. To set different elasticity limits according to a further embodiment of the invention, the stop can be shifted parallel with respect to the longitudinal extent of the slide member in the binding housing and can be locked in these positions.
A further inventive development consists of the carrier having a stop in the area of the recess which guides the carrier on its resetting path into the recess. This construction is particularly advantageous if the line of application of the return spring defines with the horizontal plane a relatively small angle because in this case the force component which moves the carrier into the recess is small. To increase the safe return, according to a further development of the invention, the stop can have a guide surface which extends sloped upwardly.
In a different embodiment of the invention, a particularly advantageous solution is that each sole holder is designed in two parts and the two parts are operatively connected through a carrier which is supported rotatably and/or pivotally on one of the sole holder parts. This construction permits an interruption of the force transfer between the two sole holder parts.
Two types of construction of the carrier exist within the scope of the invention. The first construction is characterized by the carrier being supported on the sole holder part which is associated with the ski boot sole and is loaded by a torsion spring which is also wound around the joint connecting the two sole holder parts and is suspended with its other end in the sole holder part associated with the slide member, furthermore by the carrier being supported with its free end on an abutment of this sole holder part. In this case the power flow is cancelled in totality after reaching the elasticity limit between the sole holder part which is associated with the boot sole and the sole holder part which is associated with the spring. This is inventively effected by arrangement transversely to the slide member a plate having guide surfaces along which the carriers move during the release operation, wherein the two ends of the plate form the tripping points, viewed in lateral direction of movement of the two carriers.
In a different, also inventive embodiment, the carrier forms partly a part of the sole holder part which is associated with the boot sole and carries on same a guide element, which is supported on a guide surface which is arranged on a stop which is secured in a ski-fixed part of the ski binding. In this embodiment, after reaching the elasticity limit, the direction of the force vector, which is produced by the sole holder part which is associated with the boot sole, is changed in relationship to the line of application of the spring. This is achieved according to a further characteristic of the invention by the guide surface of the stop having two guideway parts, the tangent or tangents of which define with the longitudinal axis of the ski binding part preferably two different angles, namely a support angle and a guide angle, and by the two guideway parts containing at their common line of intersection the tripping point.
It has been found to be particularly advantageous if the guide element, as actually known, is a roller.